City officials have backed Harvard University's plan to shift some of its campus support services across Western Avenue in Allston to make way for a residential project at Barry's Corner.
The plan to relocate Harvard facilities such as mail, IT, campus police training, furniture storage and fleet management won favor only after the school agreed to a list of nine conditions pushed by the neighborhood and formalized by Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino.
The conditions on the move to 28 Travis St. included keeping traffic away from homes, limiting hours of operation, funding local charities and creating a park. The Boston Redevelopment Authority board signed off on the plan last night.
"We will comply and are pleased with all of the obligations that the mayor and the BRA have suggested," said Kevin Casey, Harvard's associate vice president for public affairs. "So we are all on the same page on this."
Paul Berkeley, president of the Allston Civic Association, said the most important condition was that Harvard agreed to incorporate its campus services into its master planning. He said the neighborhood has been "fighting off" certain uses since Harvard started buying up Allston land in 1989.
"After 24 years, hearing that it's now going to be part of the planning process, is a huge victory for us," Berkeley said at the BRA board meeting. "It gives us a way forward."
State Rep. Michael Moran (D-Brighton) explained that Allston residents have "angst" about Harvard's ambitions because of all the back and forth in community task force meetings, broken promises and stalled developments such as the massive life sciences facility near Barry's Corner.
"All we've seen is a hole that was capped, and that's it. And the first thing out of the gate since that happened was a garage with a fleet of trucks that they want to move closer to the community," Moran said. "So as you can imagine, the community is a little bit disappointed."
"That's necessary to say, but it's also necessary to understand that this move will hopefully spur a whole bunch of other development that will be extremely positive and good for the community," Moran added.
Hub developer Samuels & Associates, in a partnership with Harvard, is planning an 11-story building with 325 apartments and 45,000 square feet of retail at Barry's Corner, a prime spot where Western Avenue meets North Harvard Street. The BRA board is expected to take up the project at next month's meeting.
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